smart subjects: application independent subject recommendations tito sierra ncsu libraries code4lib...
TRANSCRIPT
Smart Subjects: Application Independent
Subject Recommendations
Tito SierraNCSU LibrariesCode4Lib 2007
Outline
• Concept
• Motivation
• Smart Subjects Applications
• How it Works
• Strengths and Weakness
• Future Plans
Smart Subjects Concept
Input:•User search query
Output:• A list of related library subjects
Smart Subjects Concept
Input:•User search query
Output:• A list of related library subjects
Basically a subject recommendation engine.
Example 1
Input:
music therapy
Output:• Music• Curriculum & Instruction• Education• Communication &
Media• Psychology• Biochemistry
Example 2
Input:
asymptotic stability
Output:• Bioinformatics &
Biomathematics• Statistics• Mathematics, Science &
Technology Education• Mathematics• Computer Science• Aerospace Engineering
Example 3
Input:
illegal immigration
Output:• Criminology• Political Science• Public Administration• Biology• Zoology• Industrial Engineering
Example 3
Input:
illegal immigration
Output:• Criminology• Political Science• Public Administration• Biology• Zoology?• Industrial Engineering
Motivation
Search log analysis: standard, international economic development, fines, dissertation abstracts, music therapy, ACM, wolfcopy, Oxford English Dictionary, audio, illegal immigration, schedule, interlibrary, datamonitor, chemistry, JAMA, CRC, photography, vision, wiley, ciation builder, job, academic search elite, ria, film studies, career development, sanborn maps, citation index, iee, history, industry analysis, scholarly journals, ethics, spss, petition, animal behavior, psych info, repository, ENR, diabetes, data, lrl, cancer, textbooks, wharton, Christian Science Monitor, ITTC, blah, PubMed, time magazine, nutrition, DVD, questia, conductive heat transfer, sage, newspaper
Motivation
Search log analysis:• Lots of topical
subject queries in the long tail!
standard, international economic development, fines, dissertation abstracts, music therapy, ACM, wolfcopy, Oxford English Dictionary, audio, illegal immigration, schedule, interlibrary, datamonitor, chemistry, JAMA, CRC, photography, vision, wiley, ciation builder, job, academic search elite, ria, film studies, career development, sanborn maps, citation index, iee, history, industry analysis, scholarly journals, ethics, spss, petition, animal behavior, psych info, repository, ENR, diabetes, data, lrl, cancer, textbooks, wharton, Christian Science Monitor, ITTC, blah, PubMed, time magazine, nutrition, DVD, questia, conductive heat transfer, sage, newspaper
Motivation
Existing work:• Subject Browse
portal at NCSU
Subject Browse at NCSU
• Locally developed subject classification launched in Fall 2005
• 100 subject nodes in 12 top-level categories
• Subject nodes influenced by the university curriculum (e.g. Crop Science)
Subject Browse at NCSU
Subject Browse at NCSU
Smart Subjects Applications
• Quick Search integration
• OpenSearch interface
Quick Search Integration
Quick Search Integration
Quick Search Integration
OpenSearch Interface
OpenSearch Interface
How it Works
1. Harvest available institutional data• Course catalog descriptions• Faculty publications citations
2. Create “text extract” representations for each academic department on campus
3. Index the text extracts
4. Retrieval interface queries indices
5. Retrieval algorithm crosswalks academic departments to library subject classification
How it Works
How it Works
How it Works
Technology Used
• SWISH-E for indexing
• PHP for retrieval processing/scoring
Strengths
• Application and collection independent
• Subject recommendations can be integrated in any library search application
• Encourages broader, serendipitous resource discovery
Weaknesses
• False positives (bad recommendations)
• Zero hits (no recommendations)
Future Plans
• Deploy new uses of Smart Subjects tool•Database Advisor
• Increase the size of subject indices• Article table of contents data• Backlog of course descriptions
• Gauge interest for a community subject recommendation platform
More Information
Project Site:http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/dli/projects/smartsubjects
